Burger Jones
By Andrew Zimmern
Last week I got back from a long trip to Botswana and South Africa, and boy was I hungry for a burger. Molly sent me a text from Burger Jones that there was a near two-hour wait and that she and her pals had gone on to a Thai joint rather than endure the wait.
Oddly, Burger Jones was only seating half the room to keep the pressure off the kitchen and the night before had been handing out gift cards to encourage people to come back another time.
Doubly odd.
For a restaurant with this kind of pedigree (these are the same folks who opened Figlios, Mannny’s, Pittsburgh Blue, Salut, and Oceanaire after all) why couldn’t they figure out how to open a burger joint with a little less panic? Answer: Simple food is hard to do right. And despite the natural tendency to expect them to be open at a certain level of finish, I have to admit that at least they were being realistic and dealing with reality. They weren’t ready to their level of expectations, so they were limiting seating and handing out cards.
I had to see for myself.
Saturday morning, I got to Burger Jones at 11:55 a.m., hoping to avoid the noon rush. There were five empty tables. There was a waiting list. I was a party of two. I was fourth on the list. I was steamed. The room was flowing nicely. I wondered, "Why can't I be seated?" I guessed at some sort of quota system, although the two young ladies at the front desk seemed to have a bare minimum of experience from my several interactions with them. I was going to keep an eye out for myself, I decided. I asked them for an outside table, and they noted it with an “O” next to my name, the only such designation in the book.
My guest arrived, the buzzer in my hand buzzed (total of ten-minute waiting time), and the hostess came to seat us . . . inside . . . and there were three empty patio tables. I mentioned this and was sent back to the host stand, waited for five more minutes while there was a small huddle of decision-making, and finally I was in fact led to one of the outdoor tables. Phew!
From there, everything got a lot better. The menu at BJ is awesome, and I can’t wait for the kitchen to work out a few kinks because this place has p-o-t-e-n-t-i-a-l.
First off, the non-alcoholic beverages (raz-mint soda, lime rickey, homemade ginger beer, etc.) are all well made, they just need about 15 percent more flavoring goodies added, and they need to be shaken well before coming to the table; but they will figure that one out on their own. I hope.
Onion rings are superb—extra large, fat, and flavorful—but they are in desperate need of salt before and after frying. The simpler the food, the more the need for flawless seasoning. The fries need to not be stuffed into little metal cylinders; they look cute but become dull and flaccid as they cool. BJ’s malts use Liberty Custard products; I had a banana malt. As with the sodas, they need more banana and malt oomph, but once they discern that, the B of a malt I had will be a straight A+.
Burgers. Here’s where it gets interesting. HEY BURGER JONES, TURN YOUR GRIDDLE UP A NOTCH! There. Problem solved. The meat at Burger Jones is superb, rich and beefy with just the right mouth feel. The ingredients are high quality to say the least, the homemade sauces are all superb, but when you put a burger of that size, especially one that is hand-formed and that will make contact to the many ingredients BJ piles on within a few minutes, well, you better make a nice crust on each side of your burger, or it will purge all its juices on the bun, making it a paltry raft to hold onto—and it will fall apart as you eat it. More importantly, there needs to be the texture contrast between the crust of the burger and the juicy sweet interior. Many burger places around the country make this same mistake; I have learned my own lesson in my own cooking life. Turn up the heat on the griddle, kids; don’t flip too fast; make the crust and sear of the burger work for you; and life will be sweet. Speaking of sweet, the home-made bread and butter pickles with red onions and jalapeños are AWESOME. Don’t ever lose those.
P.S. Chicken-fried Bacon? I have had this item at the Texas State Fair; it rocks, and thanks to Burger Jones, it can be enjoyed here all year long.
Oddly, Burger Jones was only seating half the room to keep the pressure off the kitchen and the night before had been handing out gift cards to encourage people to come back another time.
Doubly odd.
For a restaurant with this kind of pedigree (these are the same folks who opened Figlios, Mannny’s, Pittsburgh Blue, Salut, and Oceanaire after all) why couldn’t they figure out how to open a burger joint with a little less panic? Answer: Simple food is hard to do right. And despite the natural tendency to expect them to be open at a certain level of finish, I have to admit that at least they were being realistic and dealing with reality. They weren’t ready to their level of expectations, so they were limiting seating and handing out cards.
I had to see for myself.
Saturday morning, I got to Burger Jones at 11:55 a.m., hoping to avoid the noon rush. There were five empty tables. There was a waiting list. I was a party of two. I was fourth on the list. I was steamed. The room was flowing nicely. I wondered, "Why can't I be seated?" I guessed at some sort of quota system, although the two young ladies at the front desk seemed to have a bare minimum of experience from my several interactions with them. I was going to keep an eye out for myself, I decided. I asked them for an outside table, and they noted it with an “O” next to my name, the only such designation in the book.
My guest arrived, the buzzer in my hand buzzed (total of ten-minute waiting time), and the hostess came to seat us . . . inside . . . and there were three empty patio tables. I mentioned this and was sent back to the host stand, waited for five more minutes while there was a small huddle of decision-making, and finally I was in fact led to one of the outdoor tables. Phew!
From there, everything got a lot better. The menu at BJ is awesome, and I can’t wait for the kitchen to work out a few kinks because this place has p-o-t-e-n-t-i-a-l.
First off, the non-alcoholic beverages (raz-mint soda, lime rickey, homemade ginger beer, etc.) are all well made, they just need about 15 percent more flavoring goodies added, and they need to be shaken well before coming to the table; but they will figure that one out on their own. I hope.
Onion rings are superb—extra large, fat, and flavorful—but they are in desperate need of salt before and after frying. The simpler the food, the more the need for flawless seasoning. The fries need to not be stuffed into little metal cylinders; they look cute but become dull and flaccid as they cool. BJ’s malts use Liberty Custard products; I had a banana malt. As with the sodas, they need more banana and malt oomph, but once they discern that, the B of a malt I had will be a straight A+.
Burgers. Here’s where it gets interesting. HEY BURGER JONES, TURN YOUR GRIDDLE UP A NOTCH! There. Problem solved. The meat at Burger Jones is superb, rich and beefy with just the right mouth feel. The ingredients are high quality to say the least, the homemade sauces are all superb, but when you put a burger of that size, especially one that is hand-formed and that will make contact to the many ingredients BJ piles on within a few minutes, well, you better make a nice crust on each side of your burger, or it will purge all its juices on the bun, making it a paltry raft to hold onto—and it will fall apart as you eat it. More importantly, there needs to be the texture contrast between the crust of the burger and the juicy sweet interior. Many burger places around the country make this same mistake; I have learned my own lesson in my own cooking life. Turn up the heat on the griddle, kids; don’t flip too fast; make the crust and sear of the burger work for you; and life will be sweet. Speaking of sweet, the home-made bread and butter pickles with red onions and jalapeños are AWESOME. Don’t ever lose those.
P.S. Chicken-fried Bacon? I have had this item at the Texas State Fair; it rocks, and thanks to Burger Jones, it can be enjoyed here all year long.
© 2008 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
I went to Burger Jones around 8pm on 5/20. There was a 2 hour wait with open tables outdoors and inside. Punch Pizza, while typically busy, was reaping the benefits of BJ's turn-aways with its own line out the door.
Posted by: Dante on June 2, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Did you say BJ? Thats hysterical. Hadnt thought of that.
Posted by: Andrew Zimmern on June 2, 2009 at 7:20 PM
We came at lunch and got seated right away over by the bar rail.
Did you order burger regular or "pink in the middle?" I opted for the latter and regretted it. You're right about turning up the griddle. I wanted it pink in the middle, not the outside. It was like eating a hot, raw patty. Mixed with the toppings of the White Trash Burger (deep fried cheese curds, country fried bacon, and Velveeta), the texture became almost nauseating after awhile.
I am anxious to give it another shot, though. As you mentioned, the place has potential.
Posted by: Chris on June 3, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Just in case you're on my side of the river, Salut-St. Paul has been serving Chicken-Fried Bacon during it's wonderful Happy Hour menu for a long while. So, really, Burger Jones is just borrowing a great menu item from a sibling...
Posted by: Aaron Franko on June 3, 2009 at 3:06 PM
on a related note, i just had lunch at Meritage and their lamb burger hit all of the delicious textural notes andrew lists above. that place is a gem; every plate they turn out is wonderful, and the burgers are fantastic.
Posted by: pete on June 5, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Lets not be hasty here folks. The Parasol group has blessed us with many a good eats, and like all businesses these days they are playing it conservative. I also was a victim of the longer wait with a half empty floor, but I was informed that the group is looking to expand their kitchen ASAP.
Which is will make for a much faster experience.
Great service is measured in how it deals with these types of situations.
I applaud BJs for being honest and not seating people just to get them started on a tab and then having to wait 45 min or so with food and on top of that give gift cards out for inconvenience. They do not owe us as customers a thing, and please don't take it out on the servers!!! If any of you know a thing or two about this industry its that in a situation like this they are just as frustrated as you are. Less customers = less money for them.
Posted by: Joel on June 6, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Chicken Fried Bacon at Salut, how authentic. Boost French style points, add a little State Fair, and you've got Parasole to the t's.
I've had a meal at the Muff. Overcooked under seasoned pork chop, and chard that was literally beginning to rot. I had an amuse bouche at Salut that could potentially start a cultural war for misappropriation of both vocabulary and intent.
Kitchen undersized at the onset? Who was sleeping at those meetings?
No love for the Psoles!
Posted by: Shivermetimbers on June 6, 2009 at 2:12 PM
Burger Jones was the worst customer service I have ever experienced at any restaurant. Not only did they give one of our credit cards to the wrong customer who left with it, but the manager did not know how to deal with the situation. She looked to the Bar Manager on duty who was condescending, rude and unapologetic. His lack of professionalism was what made this restaurant so horrid.
To top it off, each of our party got sick afterwards. The food was greasy and nothing special. You'd be better off going to Matt's or the Golden Nugget. I was sadly disappointed at the lack of service, and the rude management who didn't seem to know what was going on. I would have expected more from the Parasole group.
Posted by: JP on June 8, 2009 at 8:17 PM
Quality: poor
Price: very high
Atmosphere: pretentious
Customer Service: poor
I have rarely (I don't go back to those places) as dry a burger as their rarest burger.
Not a good meat flavor.
I had high hopes for a place with a little variety in an area with many single style food places. Applebees had variety and better food.
They are trying to give this place an upscale atmosphere and charge for it. It doesn't work if the food is poor. $10 for a sub par hamburger doesn't do it.
They also need to have a few more good beers without charging more than the typical rate in the area.
A person of some status above the server/waitress level came over and asked for my opinion. I told her but got the feeling that she actually did not care what I said.
Posted by: Bill on June 10, 2009 at 11:49 AM
What balls it take to charge what they charge for food that is so bad.
Everything from the service (snooty), food, and there complete lack of knowing what to do when we sent back our well done burgers (we ordered mid rare) Our waitress rolled her eyes at us and argued with us rather than take the offending pile of incinerated flesh off of our table and bring us our burgers mid-rare like we asked.
A manager came out to the table, and asked how things were. We told him, about the argumentative inept waitress, the fact that we waited for an hour due to her screw-up, and the fact that she argued- we spent 20 bucks for gristle, which we wanted removed so we could eat a burer, not carbon.
The manager offered to buy us a round of soda's, but told us we would have to keep and pay for our burgers.
We got up and left did not leave one cent, the burgers sat on the table with one small bite, taken out of them. I spit my bite into a napkin.
Phil Roberts you should know better then to heap this kind of garbage onto the public.
Lose the bar manager, your ditzy hostesses, and get some waitstaff that actually knows what customer service is.
It was horrible.
Posted by: Jack Reibel on June 10, 2009 at 1:46 PM
I thought I was nuts until I read a few comments here. I had lunch there a couple days ago. I sat at the bar. Bartender was very friendly and helpful. Very upbeat about the place. On his recommendation I got the black and blew (spelling intended). I cut the burger in half when I got it and couldn't believe how the bready bun dwarfed the puck of beef inside. Not pink as requested, oh well. I got tired of trying to get a taste of meat, but only tasting bread. I finally tossed aside the top of the bun and tried to finish the burger. Total waste of $10. I count myself lucky that I wasn't suckered into another $3 for fries. The next day I had a burger at the new Tavern on France in Edina. $8.50, perfectly cooked, 1/2 lb. angus, right sized bun, plenty of hot waffle fries. When the hype wears down, Burger Jones will need to take a look at itself and do a redo, just like Via had to.
Posted by: Mike on June 10, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Where'd you go in Botswana and SA? Two of my favorite places in the world. The safari, the wine, the waterfront... fantastic!
Posted by: Amanda on June 25, 2009 at 11:16 AM
We went for an early dinner on Tuesday night and my friends were told they couldn't be seated until the entire party was present, which was interesting since the place was half-empty. If I'd read this before I went, I would've understood.
The service was poor and splitting our check was apparently too much for the server and/or the POS because she put the items we split on one person's tab. Then when we figured out how much we wanted charged to our individual cards on our own, she used the other people's tips to reduce what was charged on my bill, so my bill was way off. It was really pretty hideous and I should have just left it as she rung it up and denied a tip. Other places have the capability to split checks correctly; I think it's ridiculous to have a problem doing that in this day & age.
The burgers were very greasy and not impressive. The fries were ok but nothing special. I'd have to hear about huge improvements before I'd drive way over there from St. Paul again.
Posted by: Kris on July 16, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Ditto on the making me sick comment. We ate there after the hype died down and it wasn't any better. A 45 minute wait on a weeknight when half the tables were empty. Ordered the crazy french fry thing with cheese curds and bacon and gravy, and they must LOAD their food with MSG because I can't remember the last time I was so sick. Barely ate any of my burger and didn't think I was going to make it home. Signed, I'll never eat there again.
Posted by: David on August 5, 2009 at 12:04 PM
I was at the restuarant the day you were there and was quite baffled by the fact that they did not seat you as soon as they could. The host was not very good and looked like she had a long night the night before. I agree to all of your food observations.
Posted by: Jenny on August 18, 2009 at 1:31 PM